August 2026 starters

[chocolatecoveredpretzels]

Hello everyone, I'm due to start on MJ in the next few days, and I'm feeling nervous!

I've been above size 20 since I was about 14/15 years old. The highest weight I've ever logged was 134kg, about 14 years ago. I'm currently 117kg. I also have issues with my heart caused by Cushing's, type 2 diabetes and PMOS.

In the past few years, I'm yo-yo'd between 125kg and 110kg three times. I know how to lose weight and can do it... but as soon as work gets busy or stressful, I fail and give up. I also have an issue with binge and secret eating.

I went for my annual diabetic review yesterday and the nurse basically used the whole time telling me about going on MJ, because my BMI is over 40 (well, as of yesterday's weigh in, I'm 39. something) and because of my other health conditions. I didn't have to fight for it, or request it.. they're just giving it to me.

Now I'm doing as much reading/ video watching as I can to clue myself up.

On my on-track days, I eat:

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with some flavouring- chilli flakes or marmite or 15g cheddar.

Lunch: Chicken thigh fillet in some kind of seasoning mix, salad made of lettuce, pepper, tomatoes, cucumber, sugarsnaps, carrot. Sometimes 3 cream crackers and a laughing cow triangle as well.

Dinner: Varies- roast chicken dinner/ 5% fat mince spaghetti bolognese with wholewheat pasta/ beef burger without the bun with cheese, salad on half the plate, usually without chips, noodles with chicken and stirfry veg.

Snacks: Usually a portion of berries/ a nectarine/ cherries/ 25g peanuts at 4pm.

How does that sound?

I have a treadmill and run/walk at 6.5/6km/hr pace for 30 mins three times a week. The nurse said I should do some weights for my arms too.

Any recommendations for which day I should inject?

I started a thread asking whether peo-le would stay on the jabs for life if they didn’t have to pay for them. The reason I framed it like that was to remove cost as a factor influencing the decision. To a woman, they are all saying they will stay on them for life and will pay to do so.

So as someone who started in the hope that it would be a temporary addition to my program, that gives me pause for thought. How about you, @chocolatecoveredpretzels when you say it feels like a sustainable, do you expect to be on them for life?

@PuzzledObserver I genuinely don’t know. I think my circumstances make it easier to imagine just staying on it, because I don’t pay for the medication.

I don’t know if/when I stop getting them covered by the NHS- I will always have my heart condition. But I may not always be obese or diabetic.

I’ve been able to lose weight before, but relied on so much willpower that I crumbled when I was busy at work or stressed, binging for comfort or ordering takeaways for convenience. It never lasted. The big test for me was returning to work this month and seeing how I coped with that stress and the long hours of school leadership.

I hope I could get to a good, healthy weight and come off the jabs but keep up my healthy habits. Is that what you imagined, Puzzle?

@chocolatecoveredpretzels I would imagine that since the NHS has put you on it because of your combination of health conditions, you will be able to stay on it long term? But I don’t know for sure.

For my side - well, I have already done a huge amount of work establishing new healthy habits, and working on my mindset, compulsive eating, binge eating, emotional eating….. basically I have already transformed my relationship with food. That took me from 18-10 (and previous max of 22 stone) to 13-10. and I managed to hold it there or thereabouts, but just couldn’t get any further. I did get down to 13-3 but then back up to 14 stone, down to 13-7, up a bit down a bit etc.

So, yes, I am hoping that when the jabs have got me to to a healthy weight, that I will be able to maintain it with my by now well-established eating habits, intermittent fasting and exercise regime. But I acknowledge, it’s a concern. I am definitely not going back to 22 stone, no way. But if I do succeed in getting to 11 stone, I won’t really want to go back to 13 plus either.

I'm finally going up to 0.5 tomorrow and I can't wait. Two months on the starter dose, and I've been eating and hungry again for the last three weeks. Feel I'm back to constantly eating again.

I'm hoping i dont get side effects, but i live alone so only the dogs will be affected 😄

Body weight squats and step ups 3 sets of 8 reps one day. Take two tins of anything and do some shoulder presses and biceps curls another day. 3rd day bodyweight or bottle of water deadlifts and rows. Start very gently, 5 minutes each morning, didn't compare, don't beat yourself up. You can get stretch bands too - they are cheap and can help you do few exercise snacks.

I resisted trying monjaro for so long, I don't want to try to force myself doing it without. I am leaning to be open minded. I want to increase dose when my body is ready to. Not later, not earlier. I will certainly try to reduce and stop the medication at some point. I will have to assess the situation at the time. The medication on current dose is good for me. I want to find peace with my body and my eating and if it takes medication to do that - I will accept it. I was miserable. The difference in how I feel on just 5 weeks is phenomenal

Just 1lb off this week. Hunger, food thoughts and fancying an alcoholic drink have been creeping back in for the last couple of days. The urge to snack hasn't appeared yet, but back up to 2.5 dose today to keep things under control. Really hoping for less SEs this time.
My pen looks to have a 5th dose in it so will be making use of that next week. New pen is in the fridge.
I haven't exercised for a couple of weeks and so restarting Joe Wicks this week and trying the exercise snacks (love that). Putting it in writing as extra motivation.
Happy weekend ladies (and gents?).

Two mini milestones to report

My visceral fat level on the body analyser at the gym has dropped from 10 to 9. The average for women my age (among users of their equipment) is 7, so I’d like to get to that or below.

I measured my waist at a smidge UNDER 85cm this morning, which is half my height!!

Still humming and hahing about whether to go up a dose tomorrow.

@chocolatecoveredpretzels I'm an emotional eater like you, and in the same career, so sending you sympathetic vibes! @PuzzledObserver you're an impressive person, thanks for sharing your insights as well as your victories. You seem to have cracked both the emotional eating and keeping up with the metrics, that must be so satisfying. I must admit I only look at the NSVs when the scales are giving me bad news, but today I am going shopping for size 16s - it's funny how for some people that would be a cause for despair, whereas for me it's a triumph. If I'm lifting weights, I can be a heavier weight but wear a smaller size, and pleasingly my own weight in stone matches my dress size: so at the start of August I was a size 20 for instance. Anyone else like that?
SW 20 stone 6 pounds
CW 16 stone 8 pounds
GW under 10 stone

@PuzzledObserver I just did another waist measurement, not hoping for much as I’m about a day off my period and feel bloated as hell. The scale also has me about half a pound heavier than my lowest weight earlier this week. But it’s 79cm! I’m only a smidgen over 5 foot 4 but that’s less than the other day and definitely less than half my height now.

I’ve noticed 2.5mg (especially the day before injection day) was not quite enough to combat the hormonal chocolate cravings. However, I do think it gave me the willpower to stop at a much smaller amount and feed the rest to my husband to make sure temptation was gone.

I’ve got the golden dose of this pen today and I’m going with a 5mg pen next. However I many count clicks to get 5 rounds of 3.75 as I think 5 might feel too big a jump.

I know I'm expecting miracles, but used the new higher dose pen 2hrs ago ...... and I was starving. I had my usual cereal at 9am, and now ive just scoffed a bagel with cream cheese and bacon.

This appetite suppression better restart soon 😬

I haven't actually weighed myself since my official weigh in day on Monday as my partner came to stay all week, and i generally eat and drink more. He went home yesterday so I thought .... phew, 2 days to get back to normal before the next weigh in. Now he's told me he's coming back next week too ..... arrrhhhh. Sabotage 🤣

Still, I was one stone down, so now I'm on the higher dose hopefully I'll keep losing, with or without that cheeky bagel!

@Belladog1 how would you feel about swapping your usual cereal for a more protein-based breakfast - omelette, scrambled eggs, Greek yogurt with nuts and seeds? That would keep your blood glucose more stable and take longer to digest, and that translates to not getting hungry as soon.

@Belladog1 definitely recommend Greek yoghurt as a breakfast base. I think fage tastes best and some of the super market brands don’t actually have a great protein ratio.

Althoigh I discovered there’s a Greek yoghurt brand in home bargains that’s half the price of fage and about 2g of protein more than fage! Total bargain.

Thank you ladies. Mon to Fri I do have granola with yoghurt (not Greek yoghurt) which does fill me up. This morning I was using up leftovers so had Special K with blueberries and skimmed milk .... and it definitely didn't satisfy! The bagel i had was (thankfully) the last one in the bag.

I love my partner staying over, but he eats (and drinks) differently to me, and when he goes home I'm missing him and hoovering up the leftovers 😢

Thank you for the Home Bargains top tip. I'm planning a visit there soon 😊

Had my 5th home weigh-in today and have lost only 0.25 lbs but still 5lbs down since my first Saturday weigh-in on 22nd August.
I'm going by this instead of the pharmacy weight loss of 1.32lbs in 4 weeks as the conditions when I weigh at home are more consistent ie. not dressed, good night's sleep, no food or drink.

SW 15.12.25lbs
CW 15.7.25lbs

Hi everyone. A small 200g loss this week bringing me to 3.5kg gone.

Dose 8 today - this past week I have actually felt a bit off for the first time and had a bout of diarrhea yesterday for the first time on MJ. I was contemplating moving up next pen (I have a 5mg pen for the next one) but think I will stay at 2.5 for a couple more weeks to see if these gastro symptoms settle.

Glad to hear everyone is doing well.

Jab day weigh-in. 1.6lb down this week and a total of 12.5lb since starting MJ. Have decided I’m going to give myself 3mg today (36 clicks from the 5mg pen). Then maybe 3 again next week and 3.5 after that, so long as suppression remains good and weight loss continues at a good pace. But always have the option to hold steady or increase.

If I do follow that schedule this pen will last me 6 weeks, and with the golden dose from the first one I will effectively have 3 weeks in hand. Curely have a credit system where with each pen you buy you get some credit you can either save up or use against the next one. I’ve spent £303.30 on my two pens so far, and have £4.70 in credit. I might get them to take that off my next pen…. and also delay delivery by a week. Keep the money in my bank account a bit longer.

I know I could switch to a cheaper provider, and some people hop around every month for the cheapest price. Not sure if I want to do that….. but in the longer term I am wondering about moving to Swift Doctor as apparently on their maintenance plan you only need to order every 8 weeks, and can restart up to a year after stopping. Sounds helpful when navigating the uncertain waters of maintenance.

Another week - another zero weight loss 😞 It's so frustrating, but I keep telling myself its a marathon and not a sprint

When that happens to me, @Belladog1 I tell myself, well, at least I’m not gaining. And with my history, that is a win in itself.

Good podcasts with interviews of people on GLP - Weight Conversions with Dr Spenc Nadolski

Weigh in day today - 0.8 lbs loss this week. Really wanted to drop into the 12 stone something range. There’s always next week!

I did indulge slightly over the weekend as I was out several time and it was difficult choosing healthy things.

13 lbs off since starting MJ.
SW 14st
CW 13st 0.4 lbs
GW 12 st
As I mentioned before I started dieting before Mounjaro and have now lost a total of 1 st 9.6lbs.

Thanks for that, @MiaN . I just listened to the first one….. interesting she said she could get down to 200lb but never seemed to be able to get any lower before GLP-1’s…. from a peak of over 300lb, like me.

This journey is the first time I didn’t immediately start putting weight back on, but I was able to maintain 13.7 or so, a few pounds either side. OK: I did go back over 14 stone, but only because I was bingeing. When I wasn’t bingeing, and WAS eating real food to appetite, I settled round about 13.7. So revise the first sentence…… this is the first time my weight loss attempt has not been completely sabotaged by bingeing, because I have addressed/am addressing the bingeing.

So that leads me to my fear, that having now got under 13 stone, and hoping to get to 11….. I may be putting myself in a position where I have to stay on GLP-1’s to keep the weight off. Whereas if I’d been content to stick with 13.7 or so, I could have done it without.

I guess, like so many things on this journey, it’s a wait and see.

Where is everyone buying the 5mg and at what price?
I have been lucky for a couple of months that the 2.5 mg was working but not anymore so I will go for 5 mg next week but the prices are scary.

Weigh in for me today - feeling quite despondent really. Start pen 2 tonight and stayed on 2.5 as I'm still getting side effects on day three/ four but now thinking I should have gone up.

Week 4 Check-In

• Starting Weight: 104.5 kg (16 st 6.4 lbs / 230.4 lbs)
• Current Weight: 98.1 kg (15 st 6.3 lbs / 216.3 lbs)
• Loss This Week: -0.8 kg (-1.76 lbs)
• Total Loss to Date (4 Weeks): -6.4 kg (-14.1 lbs / 1 stone 0.1 lbs)

Was hoping to get another stone off by Halloween as I'm celebrating a big birthday but can't see that happening now!

Check out
monj.co.uk
Comparison site
You can head to thd discounted price list and filter.
You can also check the retail price, ie without discount.

I can recommend IQDoctor.
I used them last time throughout and for my first 2 pens this time. But i really need to switch as the £30 off for returning customers means that they are not longer competitive.
They do give codes to share for discounts, but given that new customer codes are higher they are pretty useless.
Shame as I like the delivery reliability and knowing exactly when to order.